Hospitals are beginning to rethink opioid prescribing practices
For the last several years, there has been a startling mortality trend emerging in the United States: Each year, middle-aged white Americans are dying at a faster clip than any of their counterparts in different age groups, ethnicities, or countries. It’s a trend that was startling, in part, because researchers couldn’t explain why it was … Continued
Bribery on Two Continents: Olympus Corp. to Pay $646 million settlement
On March 1, the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Olympus Corp. with paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to hospitals and doctors to buy its products. The company, which owns 85% of the U.S. endoscope market, has agreed to pay $646 million to resolve the criminal charges and civil charges brought against it. The sum … Continued
Medical Device Vulnerabilities High on CIO’s List of Worries
By Scott Mace, HealthLeaders Media This article originally appeared in HealthLeaders Media. As HIMSS gets underway, the healthcare IT world is still shaking from last month’s audacious privacy breach at a California hospital. Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital paid a $17,000 ransom to a criminal enterprise that broke into the hospital’s system, encrypted data, and demanded an … Continued
AHRQ releases new tool to reduce CAUTI
Building on its Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently released a new toolkit aimed at reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in hospitals. Released in October 2015, the toolkit consists of three modules: implementation, sustainability, and resources. Hospitals can use … Continued
FDA: Top Three Duodenoscope Makers Release Updated Instructions
On February 19, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that reprocessing instructions for Pentax duodenoscopes had been validated and approved by the agency. The announcement means that scopes from the three major manufactures, Olympus, Fujifilm, and Pentax, are now safe to use with their updated instructions. Five months ago, the FDA issued safety warning … Continued
Nurse Renewal Rooms Benefit Patients, Too
By Jennifer Thew, HealthLeaders Media This article originally appeared in HealthLeaders Media. Hoping to counter stress and compassion fatigue, one hospital has created private spaces for its nurses to process their emotions before returning to their patients, refocused. At least one study links better nursing environments to better patient outcomes. Crying at work is traditionally … Continued
Viewpoint: Let’s Fix One Real Problem with Patient Safety
By Annie Callanan and Frank Mazza, MD
Measurement has proven foundational to advancing individual and collective performance in every business endeavor, vocational pursuit, professional sport, and recreational hobby. People do not always appreciate being measured, and some fear the implication more than others. But every successful advancement over the past century has been aided, and ultimately affirmed, by metrics that authenticate comparative achievement.
Measurements serve as foundational pillars underlying performance in every facet of our lives. They form the basis of compensation structures, bragging rights, passions, and failures. Measurements define individuals for whom they are and how they evolve and progress. A systematic approach to measurement has even permeated 21st-century philanthropy, thanks in no small part to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which counts deep inroads toward the ultimate elimination of malaria as a victory of actionable assessment (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2010; What we do, n.d.).
Patient Safety Experts Highlight Key Concerns for 2016
For many healthcare facilities, a new year means new goals. As we say goodbye to 2015, patient safety experts from around the country share their focus areas for the coming year. Improving EHR systems After spending the last several years implementing, launching, and optimizing a system-wide electronic medical record (EMR) system, Henry Ford Health System … Continued
CMS Announces Standardized Quality Measures
CMS and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) released seven quality measures yesterday that aim to reduce the cost of measuring clinical quality while supporting multi-payer alignment on core measures for physician quality programs. The new measure sets will improve informed consumer decision-making, reduce variability in measure selection, collection burden, and cost, according to CMS. “In … Continued
MITSS Presents Annual HOPE Award to Jeanine Thomas
MITSS presented Jeanine Thomas, president of the MRSA Survivors Network, with this year’s HOPE Award. MITSS, or Medically Induced Trauma Support Services, Inc., is a nonprofit organization founded in 2002 whose mission is to support healing and restore hopeto patients, families, and clinicians impacted by adverse medical events. The MITSS HOPE Award, first given out in 2008, recognizes the people and organizations that support the people affected by those events.